Things should not have been allowed to come to such a pass where only the road to confrontation is open. The popular expectation was that the parties would reach an understanding, instead of taking the violent course. That hasn't happened and the people will blame the parties for this failure.

It is unfortunate that the problems could not be resolved amicably, but now the parties have to at least make sure that innocent people don't suffer as they did during the agitation in late October. We appeal to them to avoid the kind of barbarity, which resulted in so many deaths and badly bruised our image abroad. Well, it is clearly not enough to say that the dead were victims of mob violence, which could not be controlled. If the political parties cannot rein in their supporters, they should not arouse them to frenzied action, in the first place. The dire need of the hour is that the politicians refrain from making provocative statements, the consequences of which are bound to be negative.

The caretaker government, for its part, has to play a neutral and proactive role so that the parties do not resort to any desperate move. The four-party alliance government, it is widely believed, treated the opposition with undue harshness a conviction amply supported by mass arrests and police action on the opposition activists. To regain the AL-led opposition's confidence, the government has to treat all the parties equally and dispel doubts that have already crept in regarding its ability to deliver.

The blockade and the plan to counter it are extreme measures that will only add to the great political uncertainty prevailing in the country. The parties must realise the truth and spare us the trouble of having to endure further violence.